District 204 growth slows

[happymom]

happymom said:

The students who attend Frontier are not at the regular campus. You are not allowed to go between buildings, you are 100% at one or the other. Any senior invovled in music, or film production etc cannot be a Frontier student because their electives are in the main bldng. The Frontier students maintain block scheduling, like college. They may have classes that meet M W F or T R or AM or PM. It is not geared towards the senior that wants to take a full load of classes.

Not making a comment regarding good or bad -- but it is correct that at least WV music students who are at Frontier are not allowed to participate in any extracurricular activities. This is because they are not enrolled in a curricular music class and the band directors require enrollment in a music class to be involved in extracurricular music activities. For example, a student who is a senior who has been involved with marching band for 3 years and say, a top music student (in audition bands for 3 years) could not go to Frontier and still be in marching band because they would not have a band class during the day.

This question was specifically asked at a band booster meeting last year and that was the answer given by the Fine Arts Department Chair, Matt Temple.

I personally think in that situation it is absolutely ridiculous to punish a student for wanting to advance their academics by not letting them continue with music.

Frontier is a great opportunity but so many students I know want to continue their music as a hobby into college and so feel they can't give up some type of music their senior year and Frontier (at least the music department) is making it impossible.

[justme]

bob said:

BC, what is the name of the marketing company that the SD used to send out the flyers with the students on it? Or was it 204TK?

casey said:

In my recollection the SD paid an outside company (marketing company, consultant, educational facilitator - whatever you want to call it) to ensure that the Referendum passed. Yes, we paid $$$ to have a company come in and do whatever it took to get that Referendum passed. I remember seeing an article talking about the success such companies had at getting referendums passed. I will try to research and come up with a name but I assure you the services weren't free and this wasn't a parent volunteer group!

Agreed Casey. 204TK is a separate entity.

Bob, since your like a dog with a bone on this one, why not do a little research yourself. I started to but some of us have to work. Besides, the archives on this board are majorly depressing.

[momof3]

blankcheck said:

Mom-getting people out to the polls to vote based on fact is one thing but getting them out to the polls to vote using stock photos of crowded schools and enrollment figures that as the article today are not panning out are two different things.

I guess we can agree to disagree on this one. Referendums generally have a 30 - 40% NO vote built in. Add in to that consulting-style groups like CRAFT that were giving seminars on how to defeat refs and the PAC that employed those techniques - CFO - and they had to get the message out. If they got someone to tell them that they needed to release more data in order to get the ref passed, then good for them - it seemed to make a difference in some people's mind - wvhsparent comes to mind.

That flyer that went out with the stock photo never claimed to actually be a pic of either HS - iirc the wording was something like "Don't get left in the crowd" and actually taking a pic during passing periods and putting it on a flyer is impossible given that signed releases of each student in the photo would have to be obtained.

[blankcheck]

So you are saying it is ok to provide a fake picture in a situation in order to obtain the results you want? The implication was there and many thought that that was a picture of one of the high schools. Very manipulative.

[momof3]

So it all comes down to a group of parent volunteers using a stock photo instead of an impossible-to-obtain passing period photo to make a point? That's it?

That was definately 204tk, a PAC, run by unpaid parent volunteers.

[bob]

casey said:

In my recollection the SD paid an outside company (marketing company, consultant, educational facilitator - whatever you want to call it) to ensure that the Referendum passed. Yes, we paid $$$ to have a company come in and do whatever it took to get that Referendum passed. I remember seeing an article talking about the success such companies had at getting referendums passed. I will try to research and come up with a name but I assure you the services weren't free and this wasn't a parent volunteer group!

I believe a SD cannot hire anyone to help pass a referendum.

[blankcheck]

I have made other comments aside from just the stock photo. My point is that it was a SALES job on the 204 voters by a very clever 204 PAC committee (along with the help of a marketing firm or at least members of the 204 committee were). They pulled at the heartstrings of the voters with overcrowding, 10,000+ enrollment figures, etc. The enrollment figures speak for themselves. Since 2005, we have been on the decline as far as elementary student enrollment goes. You all do not want to admit that but look at the figures. Since 2005, we are down by 286 students.
So lets see - enrollment down, land price out of sight - ??

[bob]

blankcheck said:

I have made other comments aside from just the stock photo. My point is that it was a SALES job on the 204 voters by a very clever 204 PAC committee (along with the help of a marketing firm or at least members of the 204 committee were). They pulled at the heartstrings of the voters with overcrowding, 10,000+ enrollment figures, etc. The enrollment figures speak for themselves. Since 2005, we have been on the decline as far as elementary student enrollment goes. You all do not want to admit that but look at the figures. Since 2005, we are down by 286 students.
So lets see - enrollment down, land price out of sight - ??

Wait, now a Pac committee? What happened to the marketing group hired by the SD to help pass the referendum?

[bob]

Grade school enrollment is down. Ms is not and Hs is not. Overall is not.

How about the 1000 extra HS students that started coming in this year?

[Arch]

blankcheck said:

I have made other comments aside from just the stock photo. My point is that it was a SALES job on the 204 voters by a very clever 204 PAC committee (along with the help of a marketing firm or at least members of the 204 committee were). They pulled at the heartstrings of the voters with overcrowding, 10,000+ enrollment figures, etc. The enrollment figures speak for themselves. Since 2005, we have been on the decline as far as elementary student enrollment goes. You all do not want to admit that but look at the figures. Since 2005, we are down by 286 students.
So lets see - enrollment down, land price out of sight - ??

Down overall in the district? Again, you will not even concede the fact that there are several K-8 schools in the immediate area that are pulling students on those levels that have to go someplace when they reach 9th grade.

Instead, you seem to be stuck on thinking the school board should play long term goals like it's a day trade. There are other factors like construction yet to be completed and the K-8 schools that will dump students back into the district but perhaps that's easier to simply skip over each time it's brought up. Luckily the effect of new construction seems to be at a stand still until the market recovers. That's a fortunate thing. Unfortunately, it's easy to assume it will not happen ever because it's obviously not going to bounce back this year, and then write off the long term need immediately and be left with nothing (and even higher priced land later) for when it does bounce back.

[momof3]

blankcheck said:

Since 2005, we are down by 286 students.
So lets see - enrollment down, land price out of sight - ??

2005-2007 is an increase

gatormom said:

District 204 growth slows
Numbers renew debate over need for Metea
By Melissa Jenco
Daily Herald


2007 2006 2005 2004 2003


District totals 28,825 28,637 28,213 27,444 26,507

[blankcheck]

They were already here. Again, I refer you to their current enrollment figures they presented during the referendum. We are down by 354 HS students that is THEIR estimate. Again, they presented two other models - Model 1 HS students down by 474 students and Model 2 down by 444 students. Model 1 or 2 (can't remember which) is the one they felt the most confident about and sold that to the voters. Again, at this rate, we will have 9100 HS students in 2015 (which is just 5 yrs after the new HS would open)

[bob]

The A model wasn't their's, it was NIU's study, I believe. So now the admin is at fault for a NIU's independent number.

And once again, you go with the idea that the 204 voter is stupid and unintelligent. We are not just empty soulless vessels that can't understand facts and figures.

Sorry, I believe the people in this SD are pretty intelligent and are not empty vessels and gullible. They thought things through and voted on what is best for the SD on both sides.

[warriorpride]

Does anyone honestly think that the SD should no longer build MV? If so, you realize, that there will pretty much be no chance of building a 3rd HS ever again, right?

[doctorwho]

momof3 said:

So it all comes down to a group of parent volunteers using a stock photo instead of an impossible-to-obtain passing period photo to make a point? That's it?

That was definately 204tk, a PAC, run by unpaid parent volunteers.

If they were paid ( as a marketing company would have been) then I'm missing some checks

gee all these compliments, maybe the pac should have incorporated.